Paint rollers have been used for years to apply a film of liquid paint to a surface leaving a deposited film whose appearance is generally more appealing than if the film had been applied with a brush.
Conventional frames are L-shaped with a handle on the end of one shaft portion and the roller applicator journalled for rotation on the other. The roller may have end caps at opposite ends of the tubular roller and a clip or cap nut is conventionally detachably mounted on the free outer end of the shaft to retain the roller on the shaft. Some form of means is normally provided to keep one end of the roller from abutting against the shaft on which the handle is located.
In another type of roller applicator the end caps are interconnected by a plurality of wires disposed parallel to the shaft and spaced apart from one another circumferentially there around forming a cage that is journalled and retained on the shaft. The roller applicator in this instance is a sleeve that slip fits onto the wire type cage. The distal ends thereof supporting the roller are biased toward one another by the tensile strength of the wire comprising the frame and handle.
In each of the forgoing types of roller applicators the roller pressure will normally be less at the free outer end of the roller that at the end where the shaft and elongate handle are joined. Effectively the shaft with the roller thereon is cantilevered from the elongate handle. This makes them unsuitable for the longer than average roller and dependent upon the tensile strength and/or gauge of the wire frame to bias the distal ends of the frame toward one another supporting the roller there between.
Yoke type of frames are known and by way of example reference may be had to the following United States Patents: Design Patent D334,476 granted Apr. 6, 1993; Design Patent D396.906 granted Aug. 11, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 581,581 granted Apr. 27, 1897 to M. J. Guthrie; U.S. Pat. No. 2,680,318 granted Jun. 8, 1954 to W. L. Simmons; U.S. Pat. No. 2,811,733 granted Nov. 5, 1957 to M. E. Sloan; U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,832 granted Jan. 13, 1959 to I. Hanninen; U.S. Pat. No. 2,927,334 granted Mar. 8, 1960 to S. Wonso; U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,831 granted Mar. 28, 1967 to W. J. Brinker; U.S. Pat. No. 3,593,361 granted Jul. 20, 1971 to D. I. Welt; U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,082 granted Mar. 7, 1978 to E. O. Roe et al; U.S. Pat. 4,868,946 granted Sep. 26, 1989 to F. Marino et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,951 granted Dec. 3, 1991 to E. M. Abrams; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,165 granted Apr. 23, 1996 to I. Zigelbolm.
Yoke type frames allow the user to apply substantially equal pressure at each of opposite ends of the roller. U.S. Pat. No. 3,593,361 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,946 teach the yoke arms are adjustably movable toward and away from one another to respectively grasp and release a roller disposed there between. U.S. Pat. No. 2,680,318 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,832 teach the free outer ends of the yoke arms are resiliently biased away from one another and are maintained in engagement with the roller by a loop that is slidably disposed on the arms for movement in a direction toward and away from the roller. U.S. Pat. No. 2,811,733 teaches the yoke arms are interconnected by a tension spring that can be made to slide along the arms in a direction toward and away from the roller.
None of the patents teach means for retaining the arm interconnecting means at a preselected location on the yoke arms. U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,165 teaches a rigid yoke frame for rollers that are 2 or 3 feet long rather than the normal 9 or 12 inch roll; however, the yoke arms are interconnected at a selected location but the cross member interconnecting the yoke arms is permanently attached to respective ones of the yoke arms at that location.